Jets propelled by their goalie
Hellebuyck emerges as elite netminder at right time for Winnipeg
Connor Hellebuyck’s backto-back shutouts in Games 4 and 5 highlighted the Winnipeg Jets’ impressive opening round of the Stanley Cup playoffs in which they eliminated the Minnesota Wild in five games.
Now, as the Jets take some time to rest and prepare for the second round, Hellebuyck’s emergence as an elite goaltender has come clearly into focus, as well as Winnipeg’s overall defensive play.
“We’ve played such a good team defence,” said Hellebuyck on Sunday, as the Jets returned to the ice after bouncing the Wild on Friday.
“You can see the trust on the ice. You can see the defencemen, when they trust me to have the shot and they take the back door. And when we have that trust in each other, it makes everyone so much better at their job.”
Coming off his matching pair of 30-save shutouts, and a recent nomination for the Vezina Trophy, the 24-year-old goaltender seems to be on an upward trajectory right as the Jets need him to be playing his best hockey. The confidence Hellebuyck has in himself, as well as for his teammates, has reached its highest point in his playing career.
“Maybe things aren’t always going to be this good. I’m going
to have to look to the future and remember this. That this was a big building stone and a step in my career,” said the 2012 fifth-round draft pick who turned pro in the 2014-15 season with the AHL’S St. John’s Icecaps.
“That I can do this, and if things falter, I have a good foundation to fall back on. And no matter what, that good foundation … is always going to be able to be built (on). We’re always building for more.
“We put a lot of hard work into it, but now we’re here for the long term.”
Looking back at Winnipeg’s lone loss in the series— a 6-2 defeat in Minnesota in Game 3 —head coach Paul Maurice said Hellebuyck’s play in the first round, and this season, is tied closely to his club’s overall defensive soundness.
“They are absolutely married together,” said Maurice. “So, the entire team wasn’t right in Game 3 — our back-end included.
It would have been very difficult for Connor to have a different result with what was going on in front of him, but he looked like the rest of us too.
“We were a step behind it. There wasn’t any real concern that he wasn’t going to bounce back the next game because our whole team would. But he’s been like that all year.”
Like Hellebuyck, top-pairing defenceman Josh Morrissey is also in his second full season with the Jets. Both drafted by Winnipeg — in 2012 and 2013, respectively — the two have begun their NHL careers together.
“It’s something where the more you get to play with a goaltender, like a D-partner, the more times you go back for a puck (and) he knows how I move differently than Dustin Byfuglien does,” said Morrissey. “All those little things that you get comfortable with over time. He’s such a calm goaltender in the net, you never feel flustered and it makes it easy on us.”
Maurice echoed Morrissey’s thoughts on the growing synergy between Hellebuyck and his defencemen.
“It’s required for a defenceman to have that non-verbal communication with the goaltender and understand where they’re going to move on certain plays. Experience, it’s the best teacher for all of that,” he said. “(Hellebuyck) has started a big number of games this year, but last year as well, and you start to learn what the men in front of you are going to do. And maybe our injuries over the last two years have helped us. He’s seen different players and gotten to know all of them.”
“Being in the net enough reps to understand what your defencemen are most likely to do - where the play is going to flow. That helps the goaltender. A really critical piece to them reading the game.”